This application claims priority of Taiwanese Application No. 091108088, filed on Apr. 19, 2002.
1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a measuring system, more particularly to a method and apparatus for measuring mobility of a tested animal.
2. Description of the Related Art
A measurement result from the forced swimming test for a tested animal, such as a mouse, is usually used as reference for evaluating whether the tested animal has symptoms of depression.
FIG. 1 illustrates an automated system for measuring mobility of a tested mouse 97 in the forced swimming test. The system includes a cylindrical container 91, a liquid body 96 disposed in the container 91, a sensor unit 92, a counter unit 93, a printer 95, and a control unit 94 coupled electrically to the sensor 92, the counter unit 93 and the printer 95. Initially, the tested mouse 97 is placed in the liquid body 96 around an electromagnetic field with a predetermined frequency. Movement of the tested mouse 97 in the liquid body 96 will result in variations in the frequency of the electromagnetic field relative to the predetermined frequency. As such, the control unit 94 transforms frequency variations sensed by the sensor unit 92 into voltage changes expressed as impulses for receipt by the counter unit 93. The printer 95 prints the result measured by the system.
The sensor unit 92, the counter unit 93, the control unit 94 and the printer 95 are needed in the system, thereby resulting in a relatively high cost. Moreover, the measurement result, i.e., the times of mobility of the tested mouse 97, cannot be relied upon as reference for other analyses.
Therefore, the object of the present invention is to provide a relatively low cost method and apparatus for measuring mobility of a tested animal.
According to one aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method for measuring mobility of a tested animal. The method comprises the steps of:
a) providing a liquid body;
b) providing a float member having a lower float portion that floats on the liquid body, and an upper detected portion that is vertically opposite to the lower float portion and that is disposed above the liquid body;
c) placing the tested animal in the liquid body such that movement of the tested animal in the liquid body results in surface waves of the liquid body and that the upper detected portion of the float member moves according to the surface waves that reach the lower float portion of the float member;
d) optically detecting positions of the upper detected portion of the float member during a time period; and
e) determining position information of the tested animal in the liquid body from the positions detected in step d).
According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a system for measuring mobility of a tested animal. The system comprises:
a container;
a liquid body disposed in the container;
a float member having a lower float portion that floats on the liquid body, and an upper detected portion that is vertically opposite to the lower float portion and that is disposed above the liquid body, the upper detected portion of the float member moving according to surface waves of the liquid body that result from movement of the tested animal in the liquid body when the tested animal is placed in the liquid body and that reach the lower float portion of the float member;
a sensor unit for optically detecting positions of the upper detected portion of the float member during a time period; and
a computing unit, coupled to the sensor unit, for determining position information of the tested animal in the liquid body from the positions detected by the sensor unit.